China's audio industry delegation visits Denmark to boost ties

09:30, June 15, 2011

China's audio companies aim to strengthen their innovation capacity by collaborating with their Danish counterparts, an industry representative said at a meeting in Copenhagen Tuesday.

"In China, there is a large market and many companies in the audio sector. It is relatively big, but not strong, because we are weak on design and technology," said Leon Chen, Secretary General of the China Audio Industry Association (CAIA).

"That is why we are visiting Denmark and communicating with companies, to help the companies in China work with Danish companies to improve our technology and design," he told Xinhua.

He was speaking at a meeting organized by Denmark's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to launch the CAIA's Danish visit, which runs Tuesday to Friday.

The CAIA delegation comprises some 30 representatives from 12 Chinese audio companies and from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It will visit Danish audio companies, audio design labs and technical universities during the visit.

"This is a good opportunity for Chinese companies to see what Denmark is doing, and for us to see what China is doing," said Jon Thorgaard, Deputy Head of Invest in Denmark, a foreign- business facilitation unit under Denmark's Foreign Ministry, which is coordinating the visit.

He said Danish audio companies enjoy "unique competences" in the manufacture of hearing aids, loudspeakers, noise control and simulation devices and sound measurement instruments.

Thorgaard believes the visit will help the two sides find "the right combination of competencies and framework conditions."

According to Invest in Denmark, Danish companies have a 40 percent share of the world market in hearing aids. They are also the leading suppliers to the automobile, mobile device, defense, loudspeaker, vibration measurement and sound testing industries.

"We are aiming at (collaborating on) hearing products because China has a huge population, and we see that people are getting old. So there is a potential big market for that segment," Chen told Xinhua.

Danish acoustic testing equipment can also be used by Chinese manufacturers of speaker systems, he added, signaling another area of potential collaboration.

Apart from consumer products, there is also scope for developing new applications for existing sound technologies, including ways to reduce noise and vibration in wind-turbines, in the building sector and in medical devices, Thorgaard said.

The CAIA visit is part of a broader Danish government initiative to attract foreign investment to high technology areas where it enjoys competitive advantage, such as clean technologies, ICT, bio-pharmaceuticals and the maritime sector.

According to the Foreign Ministry, foreign companies in Denmark make up just 1 percent of the total number of enterprises here, but contribute 24 percent of the country's annual turnover, making inward investment a high priority. Enditem